Dawn OF Thunder: Chockys Dawn
by Chaos Eternus
Summary: Backstory: It is known that Chocky saw the two Goa'uld mother ship be destroyed in earths orbit and that she acted... but what led up to that moment? What really happened?
1. Prologue

**Chocky's Dawn  
by Chaoseternus **

Note that _italics_ indicates telepathy.

Note that this is backstory to the Dawn Of Thunder / Thundersdawn series of fanfictions.

**Prologue**

They are my children.

Strange though it may sound, coming from one so young as I, but they are my children. I am not their parent by any means of biology, but I have taught them, nurtured them, shown them how to be so much more then the numbskulls that make up the sheer bulk of this worlds population.

The mind is, and has always been an amazing thing, witness the ascension of those called Ancients, they figured out many of the tricks of the mind in their time, how to heal for one, but they missed many. These children, these I show more of the tricks then the ancients ever knew and they, they consider it normal.

They know that by the standards of their race it isn't of course, but they are used to it, therefore for them it is normal. They all have telepathy; they can hear each other, talk to each other, share visions and ideas across half the world, they have telekinesis, they can and have moved objects much larger and heavier then themselves with merely the power of their minds and, most importantly of all, they use more of their brains then any other human alive. They are geniuses, each and everyone.

All because of me.

They will need it all, one day the Great Enemy will return to this world and then they will have to rise or fall on their own, I know the rules, I can not be the cause of the Great Enemy finding and taking interest in our world, for if I am, they will dissipate me, scatter my soul across the gulfs of space, irretrievably lost for all eternity.

The Great Enemy, they know a few of the tricks of the mind too, but they just them to subjugate, dominate, control and spread their evil across the worlds of space. Worse, this world shows all the signs that _ they _ have been active here in the past, their pyramids, the prisons of their fallen, their technology; all of it lines this world, marking it with their heresy.

One day the Goa'uld will return here, I just hope that on that day my children will be ready. I have made a start, made many mistakes and many have died, a few I have had to put down myself, but still, the seed has been sown and the more I learn, the better I become at my task and the stronger the seed grows.

There are now three-hundred of my children scattered across this world and that number grows all the time, even my children themselves are recruiting, drawing more into the ranks, ever unknowing of the reason I do so much for them and for this world.

I almost died for it, not that many years ago, those rogue agents of the British government managing not only to steal the foundations of a Zero Point Generator whilst I was home but later, to trap my mind within it. If it wasn't for my children figuring out on their own that together they had the power to summon my parents across the great gulfs of space then I would be lost, and others with me.

My parents, they knew this school project meant so much to me but still, they wanted me to stop it then, I had more then enough progress, more then enough information gathered, made a big enough change to accept that I had succeeded in my task and graduate but no, I said no and I meant it.

I had made them what they now were, and that made them my responsibility. I had known that I would become Guardian to them, but I had not truly realised what that meant. Now I know, and in realising that, I graduated anyway. The lesson, it seemed, was not as we were told how to aid the lesser races, how to assist others onto the path of greatness but to understand responsibility.

Strange, but still, my project, the method I had chosen had the biggest effect of all those of my class but it also trapped me, dooming me to a years of work building these children up till they are ready to stand on their own two feet. I had, by means of my responsibility, obligated myself to them.

Some tried to find a way out for me, looking for some loop holes in the rules that would allow me to just walk away, they didn't like the thought of anyone obligated to another race because when all is said and done, it gives a lesser' race power over one of their own. I told them simply, their was no way out of responsibility, except to abandon it, an act which is considered heretical to my people, you do not abandon your responsibilities, ever.

Of course, whilst you might have your grades, your rating in life, you aren't allowed to graduate until your final project is over and until your final project is over and you have that proof of your status as an adult, you are still legally a child, still subject to all the children's laws yet expected to act like an adult. At this point, I am the oldest child' on my homeworld, yet I do not complain.

I have too much to do for that, too much work to care that I am still a child. I have my project, my children to nurture and prepare and I am content.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chocky's Dawn  
by Chaoseternus **

Note that _italics_ indicates telepathy.

**One**

Commander Thompson was not in a good mood, first he gets a call at 6am informing him that his new command had been assigned to somebody else, and not just any somebody, but Captain Ewans, a man who owed his rather meteoric rise through the ranks more to political manoeuvring and straight blackmail then competence, a word, Thompson thought sarcastically, that Ewans would no doubt have to look up in the dictionary, and that he had been shifted to a shore posting, he was now that most vile of creatures, a paper pusher.

That was a bad start to what was certainly a bad day.

At 7am, his mother calls, bothering to speak to him for the first time since father was lost, to tell him that an Aunt he never liked had died and that as he was in the country, family honour required him to attend the funeral.

He was forced, after twenty minutes of listening to her prattle on, to tell her exactly where she could stick family honour'. He had no intention of showing up, there were few enough of his relatives he liked and the best of those was still listed as MIA.

At 7.30, having finally managed to drop back to sleep, the twins called, rather tearfully explaining that they had been involved in an accident, and his vintage Mustang, his Cherry Red beauty which they had borrowed had been hit by a truck just seconds after they stepped out, his pride and joy, which he had spent the best part of a thousand pounds on restoring hadn't just been wiped out, she had been burnt out.

Then the Police called, to inform him of the same and to ask, all too casually if the girls really did have permission to borrow his car. Considering the twins were the only two he would trust with his baby, which rather put him off. Not to mention, finding out that the truck driver had failed a roadside breathalyzer test.

At 8am, his stockbroker called to tell him that one of the companies he held shares in had gone under and he had lost six hundred pounds. At which point, it became obvious that he was really for it and getting to sleep was out.

A therapist and maybe an intravenous drip of caffeine certainly seemed called for however. Hence, he tried to make a cup of tea of tea, just waiting for the kettle to blow up on him and join the long list of things that had gone wrong already today. It didn't, but the tension even had his cat crawling into hiding and that was enough, he needed to calm down.

A long walk was called for, the rain could go to hell, he needed to walk some tension off. Of course, he should have left his pager at home; else maybe he could have honestly told Admiral Winters that he hadn't got her message in time. In London of course, couldn't get to a phone in time' wouldn't wash.

One Admiral Winters was caught up in the office and thanks to a recent crisis, and there was enough of them going around that he was tempted to ask which one, he would not be able to take his son to the private school he had gained access to, could Thompson possibly oblige?

Well, you don't say no to an Admiral if you can reasonably avoid it, and it wasn't as if he had to size up his new command anymore, apparently word had already spread that he didn't have one to size up. Hence why he was here now, trying to help a child he knew very little about to settle in and cursing Winters for dropping him into what was his responsibility, not mine.

To cap off a perfect day, the children here all seemed to have one thing in common.

They were all insane.

* * *

_Doesn't look special does he? _ Albertine commented, _You would hardly think he was military _

_Maybe not, but you need to be careful, you know how much trouble we have had with that sort in the past _Mathew replied, his thoughts tinged with dark memories, dark places, _the military can not be trusted _

_You do not need to tell me, _Albertine grimaced mentally, her face carefully blank as she observed the officer who had delivered their newest recruit; _I wish I knew why Chocky chose this one. She had to know it would be merely a matter of time before he blabbed something to his father and then, once more, we will have to deal with the military. They are only interested in control, in power, not in what's good for the planet _

_Maybe, I would not be surprised if the child was a plant either, _He replied, and Albertine caught at the very edge of her mental perceptions the movement of Mathew's hand, and a canvas. He was painting again, but then, he was always painting, he was famous for it, _either way, you will need to be careful. I am just glad I am in New York; hopefully well away from any fallout that you may spread around England _

_Thank you Mathew, _she replied, not bothering to hide the sarcasm, _it's nice to know you are with me every step of the way _

_Always, _Mathew grinned, the expression coming through cclearly with his thoughts, _Always _

* * *

I am not sure I should be leaving Thomas here, however much Winters might think this school is prestigious, a place for the upcoming geniuses of Britain, it is clear that they aren't entirely sane. 

Okay, so I do expect Geniuses to be slightly off, but still, I have noticed them talking to themselves, I have overheard them talking about aliens as if they were real, always going dead quiet if they think I might be able to hear, about the last time the military got involved' whatever that means and about technologies that are the realms of science fiction, not science fact.

Okay, so I am no scientist, but even I know there is no way to get energy from nothing, yet when they think I can not hear, they talk as if there is, and more importantly, certainly more tellingly, they talk about telepathy, telekinesis as if they were not only real, but as if they had them. I may need to recommend an investigation into this place, maybe even psychiatric evaluations for these children.

I now they are not normal, that's in a good way in their cases and why they are here, but something is wrong and that is a problem. My perfect day just got capped.

* * *

"He suspects something" Albertine commented, as soon as the officer finally left, "could they be checking on us once more?" 

Her father just shook his head, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes; he used to get locked up his work, become oblivious to what was around him, but still, "If we were being left alone for once, then I assure you, we will not be now. Even I thought you were all behaving a bit off and I'm used to you, imagine what he thinks?"

"Yes, but is he with _them?" _

"I don't know, he's military yes, but it wasn't he navy that caused us problems last time and" Arnold Meyer shot his daughter an affectionate, if somewhat resigned look, "I know you checked his records"

"I couldn't" Albertine admitted, "not completely, there are several sections for which every access is logged and the coding was solid. They would almost certainly notice that somebody had been hacking in if I touched that"

"That's interesting," Arnold frowned, "and troubling. It means he has done some highly classified work in the past"

"So, the Military is checking up on us again" Albertine commented.

"Not necessarily, you do remember that it wasn't the military that kidnapped Mathew the first time, or the pair of you the second"

"So" Albertine frowned even deeper, "we don't know who is checking up on us then"

Her father rolled his eyes, "Albertine, find up a dictionary and look up the word paranoid'. He may have been on the level, in which case if he is as responsible as he seemed, thanks to your behaviour and that of your comrades, he will now investigate just to check that everybody here is quite sane"

Arnold considered that for a moment, "considering that you regularly talk using telepathy and we have a non-corporeal alien paying us visits, its entirely possible he may label us insane"

Albertine frowned," I can't imagine why"

Arnold shook his head, the scary thing was, she wasn't being sarcastic, she actually couldn't see why they might be considered insane. In truth, his daughter really needed to get out more, and dare he say it, get laid?

She certainly needed something to wake her up to the world


	3. Chapter 2

**Chocky's Dawn  
by Chaoseternus **

Note that _italics_ indicates telepathy.

* * *

"I knew I should have taken him myself," Winters cursed, his head shaking, "are you sure?"

"I'm sure," I replied, not glancing around the cluttered and untidy office, I was used to Winters unique take on filing by now, "I did expect them to be slightly off, they are geniuses after all, but they were so off they were disconnected"

"So, we call the NSPCC in on them," Winters grimaced, "and get Thomas out of there"

"A single report will not do much good, doubly so when they have had issues with rogues" I reasonably pointed out.

"Rogues?"

"I did a background check, mixed bag of Army and Business types tried to seize control of the children and the technologies they were working on"

Winters growled, his hands turning white as he held onto the now creaking arms of his old, but solid wooden chair, "I thought that ilk were cleaned out ages ago"

"These children, whether they know it or not, started that purge" I had to sigh, annoyed, "but the prior experience means they do not trust the military, and that there is a special notice in their files to take reports from the military with a pinch of salt. Indeed, any such report is to be reported to MI-5 straight away"

Winters raised a questioning eyebrow at me, and I shrugged, "I did my homework, but it does help to have contacts inside the NSPCC"

"Right," Winters didn't comment on that, "so we need proof"

"Of course," I replied, "and worse still, we need to be careful about getting it, they might be certifiable but they are geniuses, if they decide they are being watched, or worse, if any of the organisations watching over them spots us and decides to ask questions later..."

"Point, "Winters shook his head," right, well I'll pass word along to an associate of mine, young up and comer, see what she thinks. You had best go sort your paperwork out, your behind"

I shot Winters a wry grin as I headed off, paperwork, my favourite.

* * *

The first thing I noticed as I entered my house was that the security system was on and it really didn't look like anyone had gotten in. The reason I mention that is because the second thing I saw was a young lady, barely looked out of her teens, sitting cross-legged at the top of the stairs, yoghurt in one hand, pistol raised in the other. 

As she saw me, she relaxed, slipping the pistol away, a spoon magically appearing in the hand, "Commander Thompson, Admiral Winters asked me to say hi. Names Murielle, don't ask for a last name, I don't generally give it out"

"Winters," I cautiously commented, "did mention something about a young up and comer"

"That would be me," she shrugged, casually tossing the now empty pot into the bin, a shot which took it over the banister and five feet behind where she sat, and she didn't look. The empty tub scored a direct look and I vowed to treat this young lady very carefully indeed. She had to be a deadly shot, pun intended.

"So, considering you're only the second officer Winters has pointed me at and the first hasn't been found yet, what's up?"

I blinked, her commentary telling me exactly what this far too innocent looking woman did for the Navy and I edged her a few notches further up the dangerous rankings. I also vowed to ask Winters why the Navy had such an officer, that was more the Armies work or the Marines.

"Observation and Intelligence gathering mission," I forced myself to say calmly, walking into the kitchen for something to eat and noting quite quickly that most of the yoghurts I had bought yesterday had vanished from the fridge.

I turned around from the fridge, some sliced ham in my hands, planning to make a quick sandwich only to find Murielle right behind me. Now, I have damn good hearing and I didn't hear her move, nor did I hear the fifth and sixth steps squeak and they always squeaked. It had taken me hours of careful fiddling to produce that sound, a nice warning signal and she had avoided it.

She was good.

"Sandwich?" I asked, my tone a little higher then normal, as I reached across the antiseptically clean and practically unused cooker to the metal bread-bin.

"No thank you"

"So," I continued, resisting the urge to glance curiously at Murielle, "Winters son just started at a new school"

"I heard, what's the mission?"

"That," I grimaced," is the mission. I delivered Thomas today and almost walked right back out with him"

"Dirty?"

I shook my head, "insane, unfortunately there's a D-12-15 notice on their file"

Murielle frowned, puzzling this over for a second, then shook her head, annoyed, "rogues?"

"Bingo"

"Okay," Murielle smiled, "easy mission, watch some kids, observe and note down anything off"

I chuckled, "I am guessing you're the only officer Winters didn't brag to then"

Murielle shook her head, "been out of country for... oh, a while"

"It's a special school, for my IQ vanished off the top end of the scales types"

Murielle blinked, "so, I have to observe a bunch of genius grade children because what, they seemed off?"

"More then that," I grabbed my sandwich, gestured towards the living room and as we walked in, began to explain

* * *

_We're being watched here; even Chocky feels it and has been staying invisible _

_That, _Mathew commented seriously, _must suck. Who is it? _

_We don't know _Albertine replied, and Mathew was more then a little shocked.

_You don't know? How can Chocky not know? _

_Whoever it is, they really know what they are doing. We have found bugs but frankly, I think the ones we found, we were meant to find. Chocky has been peeping at the minds of anyone regularly in the area and a few random others, but she too has found nothing _

Mathew, to put it mildly, was a little surprised, _Chocky can't find them? And you're sure you're being watched? _

_Yes, _Albertine's grimace came through in her reply, _Chocky says she has a few theories, but hasn't been talkative, she seems surprised _

He whistled mentally, verbally thanking a woman who was congratulating him on his latest exhibition without showing any signs that he was talking telepathically too, _is it even possible to hide from her? _

_She says yes, but it requires either training or worse, an inherent ability _

Mathew nodded, _Training can be broken, an inherent ability however only gets strengthened with use _

_Exactly, _Albertine mentally shook her head, _It's slowing things down here majorly, we are actually behind schedule _

_Ouch, that's a first _

_First in years, anyway _

_Is there any, _he hesitated, _do you feel threatened? _

_No, _there was a frown and a distinct note of puzzlement in Albertines mental tone, _watchfulness, but not threat _

_Careful, _he smiled, both mentally and physically, shaking hands with the strange Mr Murray' who had just bought a piece he did of Colorado Springs, but mentally, still concentrating on his friend, _Anyone might think you were developing telempathy _

_That's it _Albertine sent a mental shrug, _None of us are _

Mathew blinked, _you girl have problems. But is it a coincidence that this started after the visit from Mr Navy _

A startled feeling came over the mental link, and Mathew resisted the urge to grimace, Albertine was a genius, she really was, but she did tend to miss the obvious and over think things.

_I didn't think of that _

_Well, it's a start, try investigating from there. Sorry to leave you, but I have to concentrate now, give a speech, think to you later? _

_Always _


	4. Chapter 3

**Chocky's Dawn  
by Chaoseternus **

Note that _italics_ indicates telepathy.

**Three**

"Thompson, get your arse into my office, immediately!"

You know its going to be a fun' day when you get into your office, don't even have time to make a cuppa and you get a phone call like that from your immediate superior.

Considering I wasn't involved in anything major at the moment, it could only mean one thing. Those blasted kids had upped the ante on us.

"Somebody broke into the personnel mainframe last night," Winters growled as I walked into his office, "and they showed great interest in one file in particular"

"Let me guess," I replied dryly," it wasn't yours"

"Smart-arse," he growled, his voice slightly distorted by the unlit cigar drooping from his mouth, "unfortunately for them, Thompson is common enough that they had to search the archives and that gave the computer boys time to kick em out. Something about resetting the connection I don't know, computers aren't exactly my thing but everyone who was connected lost their connection to the database"

"Did they get a trace?"

"Partial," Winters replied, "and its suggestive of our friends, but not diagnostic"

"Well, I haven't heard anything especial from Murielle yet" I shrugged, "except a note about this being a surprisingly challenging assignment"

Winters snorted, "from her, _that's _ saying something"

"So, what are we doing now?"

"For the moment," Winters frowned, "your file has been locked out of the search function and moved in the system. If they get in again, they wont be able to search for it and they wont be able to go right too it. Unfortunately, this is a definite intrusion attempt and security is now trying to get involved and they don't like the ongoing investigation' business, especially when its tied into family issues. They have threatened to sic Internal Affairs onto me for misuse of official resources and interfering with their investigation"

"We had better be right then," I replied, "or else that misuse of resources will stick"

* * *

_We cant get at his file, _Albertine grumbled, _they spotted us pretty fast for one and it appears that the file may no longer be on the computer _

_Albertine, there is this word called subtlety' you may be interested in, just because you can brute force your way in doesn't mean you should, _ Mathew shook his head, paintbrush dangling in his hand, slowly dripping red onto the floor as he concentrated on his friend, _there is also this thing called the law. You broke it again, only this time you cannot claim you were in the right, you could be in serious trouble now _

_Not with that notice inserted into our files, the military cant touch us _

Mathew snorted, disgusted, _No, it just means they have to cross every T and dot every I but they can touch you and they can certainly have you arrested if they can prove an illegal action. If you try to claim a paranoia due to previous incidents' defence you will get laughed out of court, just as those rogues were _

_They at least are still in Prison _

_Albertine, get out and watch the news occasionally, there was an accident', _Mathew poured the irony onto that last word, _it even appeared in newspapers this side of the pond, half of them are dead _

Albertine was silent, and Mathew continued, hoping the silence was an indication that he was finally getting through to her, god knows he and her father had been trying for months.

_Albertine, you're a friend, so take this as friendly advice. Get out, have a night on the time, associate with the rest of humanity for a while, hell, even get some, your old enough now _

Mathew shook his head exasperated as Albertine's mental voice came back puzzled, _get some? _

_This is what I am talking about, _Mathew shook his head, _You're so disconnected from everyone that Chocky hasn't chosen you don't even know what that means. Your father has given you the birds and the bee's speech right? _

_I'll take the sudden blush I feel coming from you and the lack of response as a yes, _Mathew commented, _even so, you girl need to get out. If you have to be paranoid, make sure everyone knows where you are going, but get out! _

Albertine didn't reply.

* * *

It didn't take a genius to know what that look on her fathers face meant as she said she was going out, planning to spend the night at a club. Had she really been that oblivious that she hadn't noticed the gentle prodding her father and her friends were sending her? 

Well, maybe, she did tend to get locked up in her work. Of course, it had to be Mathew who decided gentle prodding wasn't working, but other then her father and Chocky, he had known her the longest, he had to know how hard headed she could be at times, not that she would ever admit to being hard headed to anyone of course.

Still, this was new for her, she wasn't used to going out, being on her own, she didn't know what to do. She would have to find a suitable club, and observe, maybe join in once she knew what she was supposed to do.

* * *

"Damnit" she cursed, muttering under her breath, right now any Policeman would take one look at Albertine and be determined to keep an eye on her for the rest of the night. 

Why Albertine had to choose tonight of all nights to finally get the point of her fathers prodding she didn't know, but damnit, she should have had sense enough to go out as part of a group. Right now, she just screamed unsure, new, and vulnerable and that, in this part of town wasn't a good thing.

She would have to do something about it.

* * *

"Hi," Albertine glanced up surprised as the tall, bubbly figure bounced up and down next to her seat, when had she appeared? "I'm Murielle, and you just have to be new here, right?" 

Albertine nodded, wondering what she was doing wrong that labelled her out as new.

"Well, come with me and I will show you the best clubs, pubs and where you can have some fun without having to worry"

Albertine frowned, mentally reaching out her senses, there was no threat she could sense, but then, that wasn't one of her skills, as had been shown on more then one occasion. Well, she could always call for help if this Murielle wasn't on the level, she would have a hard time blocking telepathy of course.

* * *

"Excellent," Murielle bounced again, annoying bubbly but she needed to play the role here, this girl needed help and protection tonight, "come on, I know this club a few blocks away that's good if your nervous, relatively quiet and the bouncers don't tolerate any trouble, more of them then most places too" 

And, Murielle added privately to herself, it will get you out of here. You really need to get out more girl; most would have taken one look at the people in this place and have walked straight out.

For that matter, she added as they walked out the door, since when did the Blue Oyster buy a club in London?

* * *

Albertine laughed; more then a little buzzed, this was fun!

Despite the closeness, she supposed the word was, for the feeling of being watched, this was fun. Wasn't her normal bag of fun, but maybe her father and Mathew were right, maybe she needed to expand her horizons a little.

Pity Murielle had called limit on her, those beers tasted nice, but she supposed they were alcoholic and Murielle certainly seemed to know what she was doing, she would know what was safe. Though she would love to know where Murielle lived, she was certainly on the street often enough

Albertine chilled, all alcohol washed from her system in a blaze of adrenaline, she was always on the street, in the background, had been ever since the feeling of being watched first arrived and now she was sitting across from her, and that feeling of being watched was so much closer

"What's up Albertine?"

"Why" Albertine gulped, nervously, fearfully, "have you been watching us?"

* * *

Murielle mentally cursed herself, she had blown the mission just to keep a young woman safe, god was Winters going to kill her, it was his kid she was supposed to be looking out for. 

"What do you mean?"

She could try and bluff it out she supposed, but she rather suspected it wouldn't work. Albertine would certainly never look at her quite the same of course.

"You know exactly what I mean, Murielle, if that is even your name"

"Well," I shrugged, "it's the only one I ever drop, and you have only yourself to blame for this mess"

"Really? I invited the Navy to spy on me and my friends did I?"

"Yes," I simply stated, sipping from my cider, "when you acted so abnormally in front of Thompson. He was only there to drop his boss's kid off but you acted so odd he had to order an investigation, he wasn't going to just leave Thomas in an apparent lunatic asylum, he needed to know he was doing what was best for the kid, as does his father"

Ah, she's listening, good.

"Father did comment on our behaviour," Point to me, Murielle allowed, "but we have had bad experiences with the military before, did he really expect us to act normally when the military showed up?"

"He didn't know, not then I pointed out."

Right, Okay, so she didn't quite believe that, "don't take this the wrong way, but how the hell do we get rid of you? And why the hell are you here tonight?"

I chuckled, "Do you have any idea how out of place you looked in the Blue Oyster? You had to be the only female in the place, till I decided it was best to go in and get you out"

Albertine blushed suddenly, ducking her head. Yep, she finally got the point.

"Trust me on this," I added, "you even had a cop following you for a while, you were giving all the worst kinds of signals out, unsure, vulnerable I wasn't going to leave you on your own, not with some of the creeps that always hang around places like this"

"You're a nice person," I raised a sardonic eyebrow as Albertine spoke, "how can a nice person be in the military?"

"Okay," I growled, "that I will take offence at. You've met up with a few bad eggs, big deal, every organisation has a few, doesn't matter if it's the military, the police, or a bloody business. Don't let that experience dictate your opinions of the rest of us. Most of us joined because we wished to serve our country, protect the rights everyone of us cherishes, we didn't join to stick pitchforks in babies!"

"I didn't... I meant..."

"I know exactly what you meant, you meant because of one incident, you labelled us as all being the same, all being scum. We're not, and I frankly do not like the implication, most of us, like the rest of society, are pretty decent. But, its always the idiots that get recognised, always the idiots that get seen and ruin it for the rest of us"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry"

"Do you know Winters is likely to be arrested because of you?"

_"What?" _

"Oh yes," I replied, a little angrily, "misuse of resources, all because you decided to act like prats and Winters decided he had to look after his son, investigate the apparent lunatics who just happened to have government funding, lots of dangerous equipment and materials and happen to be kids"

Albertine shook her head, denial.

"Every action has a reaction, every decision has a consequence I said," shaking my head, "come on, I'd best get you home"


	5. Chapter 4

**Chocky's Dawn  
by Chaoseternus **

Thank you to greyangle and rankukonalpha1 for reviewing

Note that _italics_ indicates telepathy.

**Four**

I left them alone then, did not really have much choice. They certainly behaved a lot better on the few visits I had to make to them, mainly to check on Thomas, Admiral Winters son.

Of course, I had Murielle making occasional reports, she and Albertine, whilst not being close friends always remained more then just acquaintances. I could never prove anything and to be honest, never looked very hard, but I got the distinct impression that Murielle was looking out for the kids too and had removed a few individuals who tried to take advantage permanently.

That was '89; it wasn't until '95 that they came seriously into my life again and at that point, I had just come off a stint as Captain of the frigate Lancaster F229 and was on the lists, awaiting confirmation of a promotion to Admiral. Winters was long gone, the official investigation into his misuse of resources had ended after Winters took voluntary' early retirement.

It started with a simple phone call.

"Boss? Its Murielle, you free for the afternoon?2

Technically I wasn't, but all I had booked was paperwork, which it was easy enough to push to one side for the afternoon. It was after all, extremely rare that Murielle wanted me to go anywhere, usually it was the other way around, so when she asked I paid attention. Not that I had been doing much work anyway, I was too busy puzzling over the two bright flashes that had been reported in the sky and the Americans bullshit explanation for them.

Of course, I wasn't expecting to be led to the old Institute for Gifted Children, and welcomed in by a very anxious Albertine, the oldest member of the group and officially the institutes head Mentor. The children, they were all on edge too, a few even had _The Stare, _something I had never seen on a child, and never wanted to again. I knew, just knew, that I was going to have a really shitty day.

Of course, if I had known aliens were going to come seriously into the conversation, I might have brought a shrink with me

Chocky herself had me searching around warily for either laser projectors or illegal substances, but unfortunately I was forced to conclude she was real. Which placed her as my first alien, or so I thought then anyway, but the story she told had me once again wishing to wring the necks of the often arrogant Americans well, their policy makers anyway, the people them selves were nice, I had worked with them enough, but as soon as you hit government, it was like you were issued an America is God and can do no wrong' complex.

Idiots.

Still, I suppose that was a large part of the reason I chose the path I did, I wanted Britain to have some touch of greatness again and if we seized this with both hands, we could at last have another shot at leading the way for the world. Only this time, it would not be Empire Building or sheer power-mongering; it would be the defence of all I held dear and true.

Peace, freedom, and Liberty.

Of course, first I had to get my head around the fact that aliens were real.

* * *

"Okay, you're an alien?" I glanced around, gazing sharply into each and every corner of the room, looking for the hidden device which had to be projecting this. Unfortunately, I could see none but these were geniuses, that didn't mean anything. Though, I would love to know whether it was there idea or Murielles. 

"You do not believe me. There is no need to look for hidden projectors or devices, you will find none for there are none, I am as real as you are"

"Chocky your incorporeal when you're here" Albertine commented, shaking her head, "I think its safe to argue that we're more real here then you are"

"Perhaps, though I do have a body you know"

"Yes," I replied sardonically, "you just left it behind in your other coat"

Murielle burst out laughing, if somewhat hysterically at that, and as I thought back on what I had said, I had to stifle a grin too, but still

"Okay, as a thought exercise then..." I asked, "If you really were an alien, why would you be revealing yourself to me and why now?"

"Fair question," Mr Meyer commented, "unfortunately, we have a specific reason for this"

"Do you remember the explosions in the sky last night?" Albertine asked.

I shrugged, "I did not see them myself, but I have certainly heard them and the rather laughable explanation the Americans came up for them"

I had been about to say bullshit, not laughable, but was conscious of the fact that there were children in the room, and unlike most children these were rather sheltered in this institute, though Murielle was seeing to it that they were less sheltered then they had been, and so it was entirely possible that these were the only children in England who actually knew fewer swear words then me. The joy of modern society, when even infant's school children knew as many swear words as your average sailor

"They were alien warships, Goa'uld ships sent to enslave this world, all because the Americans opened something that was best left closed for now"

I blinked, and then shook my head. It was so human to open boxes when you really shouldn't, just think of Pandora after all.

"Alright," I commented, somewhat resigned, "what did they open?"

"The chaap'ai, the stargate, the gate of the gods... it goes by a thousand names on thousands of different worlds but on all it is the same. A device that allows near instantaneous transfer between planets across the length of breadth of the galaxy, even further too, but that takes far more work"

I blinked, then blinked again, desperately trying to reorganise my thoughts, "are you talking a galactic transporter network here?"

"In a way yes, the practical physics are far different but that will give you the picture needed to understand the power, potential and danger represented here" Chocky dimmed for a moment, and I wondered if, in her own way, she was shrugging, "take a transporter that can shift you between worlds and needs a ground station at either end and you have the stargate network. Of course, you do need to know the address of your destination but the network itself compensates for the slow movements of the stars"

"Let me guess, a hornets nest was stirred up?"

"The bulk of the galaxy is enslaved by a race called the Goa'uld. The sheer majority of them are inherently megalomaniacs; they have genetic memory which means they are born knowing all the knowledge of their race including the simple fact that they are gods"

I had to blink, then sigh in disgust at that, my mind already slowly building up a threat profile despite the fact that I didn't quite believe, not yet. Of course, I had to build the profile, my job required me to assess any possible threat to the security of the United Kingdom and then the Earth despite how far fetched it might be.

"They are also parasites who need a host in order to survive; they used to use a race called the Unas but humans have since become their favoured hosts. At the time of the Great Pyramids they ruled this world but a slave rebellion forced them off. The Goa'uld have raided since, but until the gate was reopened they lost interest"

"And the Americans, being Americans, had to piss them off enough to bring their wraith down upon us" Murielle commented wryly.

"Essentially," Chocky seemed to shrug again, "that at least is what I have gathered from my reconnaissance of Stargate Command under Norad"

"Okay," I slowly commented, "assuming I believe you, why tell me?"

"We know you," Albertine shrugged, "well, not as well as we might have liked before revealing Chocky, but we do know you and we have an idea you are a pretty good person"

"My plans had been to slowly introduce new technologies, and leave a legacy of good people to control them but this places all that in doubt. This world is threatened and the technologies I have already granted the Goa'uld do not have and would want"

"This," I slowly said, "is not the time of peaceful efforts then. This is the time for war"

"As much as I hate to say it, yes" Chocky dimmed, staying that way, I guessed that meant she was unhappy, "unfortunately the laws of my people mean I am required to assist you here, required to complete my project and that means keeping you safe. I am a student, a teacher, I am not of the warrior caste, I do not understand the ways and means of war"

"I do," I shrugged, "as a race, we do too. Perhaps it is the influence of these Goa'uld all those years in the past, the damage caused by having the existence of Gods apparently proved to use and then to have them shown as monsters"

"Perhaps, unfortunately it is impossible to determine the effects of such an event on a collective psyche but I understand the concept of which you speak"

"What are the Americans working on, defence wise?" Murielle asked.

"Primarily what you would call Special Forces' teams, which deploy through the gate to carry out their missions. They did try refitting ICBM launchers to hit orbital targets but whilst they hit, the Goa'uld shields prevented them doing any damage the glowing ball pulsed, then seemed to hesitate; there is also a project, merely whispered at this time, called _Prometheus _, a warship. But they know that they don't have the technologies for it yet. Still, they plan"

"What are their chances of getting the technologies they need?"

"Guaranteed, its just an issue of time and that is not on your side"

I nodded, planning already, "okay, I assume you know of a few worlds where they might be able to acquire such technologies and be taught the science behind them?"

"I do not, but I can search, then it would be a simple enough matter to insert the address into their systems and ensure that they visit without noticing the manipulation"

I laughed, lightly, "Score one for the alien, point taken"

"Powerplants suitable for warship usage would be a good start" Murielle added, and I nodded, agreeing.

"Resources and trained personnel will always be the issue of course. Training is always slow at first and often bottlenecks new ventures" I sighed," resources too"

"Asteroid mining would help acquire the resources," I glanced sharply at Chocky at that, her words said one thing but her tone. She was hinting at something, but what? "Those at least are not depleted"

"And if we build a shipyards in orbit, we have the increased security and if we add refinerys to the asteroid mines, we don't need so much material shipped from planetside" Murielle suggested.

I nodded, "plus we will save on a lot of the expense of buying such materials covertly. But that is getting ahead of ourselves; we do not have the technology for that"

"We have some of it," Albertine shrugged, "Zero Point Generators require no fuel and are good for in-system work but utterly useless for any kind of interstellar ship"

"So, we need to work on technologies, which is more your end, and infrastructure which I suppose would be mine" I nodded, "I am going to have to acquire some independent verification of what you have said of course, but then, I think I know how we can start work"

When I finally left their house eight hours later, I made one short phone call then headed home, falling straight into a troubled sleep.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chocky's Dawn  
by Chaoseternus **

Note that _italics_ indicates telepathy.

**Five**

In the morning, I awoke to once more find an unexpected guest in my house. This time however I knew who the guest was, and after a quick briefing and a rather longer explanation I was able to send the rather doubtful 00 agent on his way to America to infiltrate the base of a nation that, in theory, was an ally.

That done, I visited a few independent researchers I knew were discreet, highly cleared, very capable and most importantly, not affiliated with any government and after handing over a rather shocking amount of my personal savings, left them to begin their own research into the Cheyenne mountain complex.

Both processes I knew would take a while, so I went to work and tried to pretend everything was normal. I didn't quite manage it, the twins definitely knew something was up even if they didn't know quite what, but still, they knew enough not to ask any questions.

It was a tense four days before anyone got back to me, and it was Mister Bond that managed it first, arriving on my doorstep and straight away going for the drinks cabinet as soon as he got in through the door.

Understandable really, it seems he had just witnessed a member of the Stargate One team be infected and mutated by a flying insect. The pictures he provided were disturbing to say the least, the fact that one of the enemy had turned traitor and joined the Americans against the false Gods was disturbing too, just in an entirely different way.

Still, I had part of my proof and a witness that in government circles, or at least those circles that knew of the Double-0 division regarded as incorruptible and loyal to a fault. If I was to take this before appropriations I would need a source as trusted as Mister Bond, hence why I contacted him. Of course, I had a pretty good idea he told M everything before he came back and reported to me but I couldn't have everything, I was just glad I had found a good use for that one favour the agent owed me.

Now, I just had to wait for the specialists' to get back to me but they I knew would take a bit longer, doubly so as their research had to be covert, at this point in time we couldn't afford the Americans, or more likely, those bastards in the NID deciding to shut us down. In the case of the NID, they would shut us down permanently and make it look like an accident, whilst we couldn't prove that had happened before, well, lets just say when you spend a few years in command rank you get to hear a few things. I certainly knew enough that I wasn't going to risk it.

In the end, it was a further month before they got back to me, in which time I appointed Murielle my temporary liaison to the group and with the assistance of a rather incredulous M, whom I rather suspected only assisted because she trusted Bond, arranged some surveillance of the Stargate Command facility and a few primary individuals.

Primary orders were of course not to be spotted, though it got very close a few times, indeed, a year later we actually had the largest losses amongst personnel to an individual called Seth, whilst we were monitoring SG-1's attempts to take that being out.

Still by the end of that month, I had solid proof in my hands that several billion dollars were being sunk into a facility below Norad, a facility which, according to the Canadians who made up half of Norad , didn't officially exist and they wouldn't be allowed to talk even if they knew anything.

It was starting to get interesting, especially as covert commands from the mountain were traced and a growing if spotty file labelled Foothold procedures began to grow inside my office. Other then Bonds original insertion, we didn't go into the mountain of course, that would tip our hand, but we knew something fishy was going on and we had everything on the periphery monitored and as a result, we were quickly able to grab evidence enough that even the most bought jury in existence would have to prosecute on.

That done, I went back to the kids; it was time for another talk.

"Okay, I have confirmed as much of your story as I am able to," I shrugged, "we certainly know now that the Americans are hiding an alien contact and that a covert war is being waged out of Cheyenne mountain. We have a good proportion of the communiqués that have been posted about the facility, but unfortunately, not a lot out of the mountain itself, it looks like whoever is overseeing electronic security for the SGC really knows what they are doing. They certainly aren't being complacent about that"

"Then," Albertine asked, slowly, cautiously, "what is next?"

"What is next is quite simple," Chocky commented, "Thompson uses his power and influences to tell the world and from there, we proceed as discussed in our last meeting"

"What?" I laughed, "Please tell me you are joking?"

I glanced around at the puzzled, annoyed expressions on the faces of the faces of the geniuses and I had to shake my head, they were serious.

They were also idiots.

"You seem to have forgotten one point; it is both a fundamental rule of nature and a basic law of physics that for every action there is a reaction. What for instance, would have been the reaction of introducing Zero Point Generator technology as you had been planning?"

"Cheap, limitless energy for everyone" Albertine noted, condescendingly, as if speaking to a simpleton. If only she knew... well, she would soon enough.

2And then?"

"Reduced dependency on fossil fuels, thereby reducing the effects of global warming, greatly reduced powerplant sizes, which will be a great boast to efforts to explore the solar system and the oceans" Albertine continued, her tone not changing at all.

"And then?" I said gently, as I would to a child who needed to figure out the lesson for themselves.

Albertine glared at me for that, but it was Chocky who replied, "If you have a point to make, I suggest you say it, but I doubt that it is something I have not yet considered. I have had far more time to think about it then you after all"

"Perhaps," I replied, a little annoyed by the arrogance of the aliens words, "but you are an optimist, you only see and you only want to believe the best. Me, I am a cynic, and I am afraid where humans are concerned, it's the cynics who are most often right."

"Consider this, providing cheap plentiful power overnight will cause global warming on an unheard of scale, guess why?"

There was silence in the room as everyone considered this, but not one of the supposed geniuses could figure it out. Murielle beside me knew though and I certainly did.

"Arthur C Clarke covered in best in 3001: Odyssey Four" if I remember correctly. "Giving a human being limitless power will result in him finding some way to use all that power"

"That's not true..." Albertine started, but I wasn't going to let her finish.

"Oh yes it is," I interrupted, "consider, computer technology is one area you follow closely, particularly the exponential rate at which that technology has developed in the past. Each time the power of the computer has increased, has not a more powerful game, a better operating system, and programs with more bells and whistles come along to use the extra power and a little bit more?"

"You make power cheap and plentiful, and people will wonder what is the point in switching lights off when they aren't using them, after all, even a big business will only save mere pennies on an electric bill. You make power cheap and plentiful, and people will stop paying extra for washing machines, televisions and freezers designed to use as little energy as possible, instead they will just buy the cheapest one every time. You make power cheap and plentiful, and that power will be used, and that power will be wasted and it will end up as more energy in the atmosphere."

"Its zero point energy, its taken from outside the normal flow of energy within the atmosphere and added to it, you are talking about dumping energy into the atmosphere. This isn't a scientific problem people, which is why you never figured it out, but it's a people problem and that is my domain my friends. Your little plan of cheap powerful energy will just lead to energy being dumped into the atmosphere and that, as you know, is global warming"

They just looked at me, then through me as they began to think about what I was saying, but I knew they wouldn't get it, not straight away. They knew human beings could be bad but they led a sheltered existence and I don't think they had ever learned one of life's most important lessons, that humans as a group were utterly stupid.

"The point here is simple, you tell the people that aliens are real and reactions will be all over the place. Some will go through denial, some will welcome the thought with open arms, some will be fearful, and some will be worshipful. You will see every reaction imaginable."

"Then, you tell them that these aliens are hostile."

"Then, you tell them these aliens believe they are gods."

"Then, you tell them that Earths defences for all practical purposes do not exist"

They at least were starting to look sickly now, starting to take the point.

"People... human beings; we want to feel safe, protected. If we don't feel like that, we lash out at the world around us, try to make ourselves be strong, for if we are strong, in our minds, we are safe as we can protect ourselves. That is why we lash out, the more unsafe we feel, the more we react with hatred and fear towards the world around us. these Goa'uld can bombard us from orbit and at this point in time, we cannot stop them. Sure the Americans are planning on building a warship, but it will be years, I would say at least five before that will be ready to make its first flight and where are we in the meantime?"

"If we tell everyone about the enemy and they lash out, as is human nature, then ultimately, we will be the ones responsible"

I shook me head, wearily, "the day will come when we will tell everyone of the truth and bring all of earth's children into the stars and I hope I live long enough to see that day, but this is not the time. This is something that has to be prepared for, and we are not ready for that knowledge yet. No, this needs to be a secret, for now. Yet, with everything we do, every step we take, we must introduce more people; spread the secret for whilst humanity is stupid, a human being is smart"

"Somewhat trite and clichéd nowadays," Murielle sighed, sitting forward in her comfortable old chair, "but for all that, it's still true"

I shook my head, sinking into my own seat, and wishing quietly for a few paracetomols to hit my slowly boiling headache with, "no, for now the general public must not know"

"But," Albertine reasonably pointed out, "we must tell more people, how else will we get anything worthwhile done towards ensuring Earths safety?"

"Yes," I agreed, "its just a question of who"


	7. Chapter 6

**Chocky's Dawn  
by Chaoseternus **

Note that _italics_ indicates telepathy.  
Thank you to everyone hwo has reviewed

**Six**

I told the twins of course, they might not be full officers yet but I trusted them and had already pulled a few strings so that I could be the one to determine their next assignments. Getting them some experience in Naval Ops as soon as they graduated would be easy and as soon as they had proven themselves on their own, this project would more then likely have use for them. Their instructors were already commenting that they were excellent organisers and had distinct command potential.

Having known who there parents were, I really wanted to know where they got it from but still…

Admiral Winters… sorry, Ex-Admiral Winters I did not inform, like all former command-rank personnel he was periodically monitored and as he had his clearance fully revoked instead of just reduced when he left, he would most likely be monitored more then most. It would be just my luck to have them monitoring him just as I briefed Winters and wouldn't that just be a colossal breech of Operational Security?

I had to brief a few of the Sea Lords of course… but which ones? And how would I prove the rather incredulous tale I had to tell? Not to mention, how did I ensure security was maintained? You didn't reach high rank in the military, and that was pretty much _any _military without knowing that you would be observed, both by agencies wanting to check and maintain security and those with an eye to breech it.

Frankly, I wanted more then standard security procedures for this little job, but that in itself was noticeable and very much note-worthy to an outsider.

It was Bond who caught the ball on that one. Everybody had periodic interviews with MI-5 in the Admiralty, mainly briefings on the latest intelligence, MI-5s overviews of certain situations, it would be an easy enough task to divert them into the Double-0 section once they were in the building and once there… well, anyone who could breech that security deserved too.

Naturally, Bond found himself dealing with a certain Cossack quite soon after that but no security system is perfect; there is always the human element.

Still, the opportunity to present Chocky to M wasn't to be missed, having her on your side was always helpful. Chocky _really _didn't like that but saw the necessity… reluctantly.

From there, it was a simple matter to get the First Sea Lord briefed, followed swiftly by the second and third Lords and the current heads of both the Army and the Airforce.

Getting the PM briefed was harder task, but eventually we dropped the word in the right way to certain ears that the PM would be coming in for a briefing on the crisis of the week and suddenly it was a bog standard meeting, perhaps juicy to the right intelligence types but not something to make a special effort to breech.

It helped that this _could _easily be classed as the crisis of the week and when it came down to it, all you were doing was letting them come to their own conclusions in the right way…

Disinformation, one of the most useful tools in keeping the other guy off guard.

Naturally, the PM didn't believe and frankly, didn't want to believe but that was a response I was getting far too used too. His orders when he finally got around to it were to step-up Intel operations around the mountain and associated complexes, which pretty much meant _create _a Intelligence Gathering group for these areas and get more intelligence.

Easy enough said, not easy enough done.

That I left in the hands of M, MI-5 and the Double-0 section, it wasn't really my area of expertise in the first place and if you have experts available and willing, why force yourself? They would do a better job then I could anyway, besides, as the new Commander of joint-taskforce 'dawn', I had to delegate. There would be enough for me to do.

Like setting up the core of the taskforce from scratch for one, including recruitment, a tricky task considering that anyone we recruited would have to have useful skills, be appropriately cleared, be able to keep their mouths shut and maintain their sanity with the world-changing revelations they would be facing, not to mention, they would have to be on nobodies watch lists.

Tricky, and it was another task I had to delegate at first to M who had her own people check out and brief a few recruitment specialists, all of whom went on to psycho-analyse, clear and brief the next round of recruits, to include the nessecary paper-pushers, security specialists, surveillance teams, extraction and special forces groups and then scientists.

Within a year, we hit two-hundred people, a third of whom found themselves inserted into such places as Norad, the Pentagon and a few others in order to watch the mountain. A few were discovered but as they did not reveal their true purpose, indeed, in a few cases didn't know what their true purpose was, they just had to suffer a few weeks of three-star accommodation on behalf of the US Government before being kicked back across the pond.

The advantages of a 'special' military relationship and an ongoing commitment to testing each others security was working for us here, though M did mention a suspicion to me on a few occasions that a few of our people had been spotted but left in place, their watchers hoping we would bird-dog out some useful intelligence for them… The Intelligence game, isn't it just a beaut at times?

At the same time as we were setting up, using monies skimmed from the budgets of all three forces but mainly the Navy as we had stumbled across the mess in the first place, the kids, now under several layers of covert protection, were starting to work, reluctantly, on more militarily significant technologies, not all of which Chocky was providing or assisting with. What would eventually become the Pulse Laser technology for instance was started by a laser technician recruited to assist Chocky's Children and with their assistance and their extra knowledge he was able to bring the first prototypes online with two years. That was a wholly Earth-grown technology.

At that time, we were also recruiting experience warship and spacecraft designers to begin plans for the various stations and warcraft we would need. The latter was the difficult task as experience spacecraft designers were few and far between and whilst they all tended to have high security clearances; most were felt by Recruitment to be an unacceptable risk. Their psyche profiles in a lot of cases indicated that if they had proof aliens were real; they would most certainly not keep quite about it. A pity, because that critical lack ended up causing a years delay before actual construction started. Perhaps that was a good thing though, it gave us more time to not just increase the available budget but increase the monies saved up for the burst of activity that would be the initial launches.

As it turned out, we certainly needed that extra cash when the time came but I get ahead of myself.

In Summer of 1999 we got our first and longest lasting agent placed inside Cheyenne Mountain, in particular, inside the Stargate Command complex underneath Norad. The beauty of it was, not only did he have a photographic memory but he was stationed inside the canteen, okay, so clearing away dishes was a job not normally associated with somebody whose name shall for obvious reasons remain unmentioned, who had spent three years training for 'special' operations after four years as a marine and actually getting the intelligence off him was extremely difficult at first but the information we obtained was first class.

It should be noted that in the end, a small tunnel was covertly built between his lodgings and a house two blocks away and he would just drop his notes down a small and well hidden hole into the tunnel where they would be retrieved by later by another operative.

It was simple, but effective… though there were incidents including a partial collapse of the tunnel which damn near lost us one of our operatives. In the end, it was the Canteen operative who faintly heard the retrieval agent's shouts for help and was able to inform headquarters without compromising himself.

It wasn't until the end of 2000 we moved to RAF St Athens, a base that was at one time one of the largest airbases in the world but had been massively drawn down. At the point we moved in, its fate could best be described as becoming uncertain but with a 'research institute' moving on site as well as a major repair complex and then the planned arrival of large number of soldiers, a task that was brought forward by the need to maintain security around our operations, (trust me, there are few things more conducive to preventing a break-in then large numbers of armed soldiers on-site), St Athen actually ended by buying back several sections of land that had been vacated decades ago.

The obvious massive work was a security nightmare of course, it wasn't as if you could hide it but again, MI-5 was on the ball and allowed several less important things to leak, indeed, they even manoeuvred a few known leakers and agents into positions they wanted them, resulting in a steady flow of information from St Athen, enough to keep the various Intel agencies happy but without compromising the operations of taskforce 'dawn'.

Regrettably, one of our agents was killed at this time defending the mountain during a foothold situation. It was the first time we had actually lost an agent inside the mountain, but it would not be the last. Indeed, of the twenty agents we inserted into the mountain over the years, four were misidentified as NID and ended up either rotting in one of the US Governments many secure holding facilities or having an accident at the hands of the NID, who seemed to just assume another of the cells had gotten lax. Eight were killed, either on or off base by hostile alien forces; three are still listed as Missing, presumed dead by the SGC itself. Only five survived to be retrieved, and only three of those had all their limbs still attached.

For the next few years, it was hurry, hurry, hurry.

We needed to get the technologies developed and prepared for combat operations, we needed to start construction work, we needed to recruit, to train, we needed to do a thousand and one different things and considering the weak state of Earths defences of the yearly breeches of same we had little if any time to waste.

That said, it wasn't until '03 we began to feel we were ready enough and began construction of the main structural members for _Thundersdawn _station… half of which ended up being dismantled as the station design was revised once more. Such is life when you are dealing with entirely new ventures. _Prometheus _was operational by this time, albeit a very balky and not entirely reliable type of operational.

Work on the _Airheads, Shunters _and _Paladins _followed swiftly but it would be another full year before construction work started on the ill-fated _Lancers. _Most of this work rested on the heads of Chocky's children, they were the ones providing the technologies, they were the ones showing us the hows and whys of there operation. It was up to us to see to there use, their implementation, and unfortunately whilst sneaking information from the SGC had proven to be possible, such minor items as technical schematics were beyond our few agents capabilities. That did reduce our options and had a major impact on the capabilities of the various stations when they initially launched but it was a gap that ended up being closed very quickly, thanks to Thor forcing the hand of the US Government during the first action the station saw.

But again, I get ahead of myself.

By then, America's idea of a Disclosure, actually just another example of the arrogance the Americans can display on occasion, had occurred. Arrogance doesn't really cover it to be honest, they brought us into a war against a far superior enemy, practically demand our allegiance and support and basically tell us if we wanted any of the technological scraps they were willing to hand out, we had to tow their line.

About two weeks after the report from that incident hit the PMs desk; our budget gained a substantial increase, now we were receiving money direct from HMG and not just sliced of the already small budgets of the standard military. A week after that, I had the… how should I phrase this? _Interesting _task of briefing Her Majesty.

I walked away from that one with the distinct impression that if it was 'proper' for a Queen to swear like a mustang, she would have.

It wasn't until the beginning of 2004 that the game really began.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chocky's Dawn  
by Chaoseternus **

Note that _italics_ indicates telepathy.

**Seven**

New Years Day, 2004.

New Years day was always a time, in theory at least, for new beginnings, for shucking off the old and starting fresh with the new. It often didn't work out that was of course, we humans do tend to be creatures of habit but this year would certainly be something else.

New Years Day was, auspiciously enough, the day that the final determination meeting would occur. This was the final chance to delay, the final Go/No Go (Wait) for the project.

Of course, it was a Go, we had little choice in that, the question was when?

The answer was simple, as soon as possible.

We knew of Anubis of course, not just from the reports the SGC was required to send to HMG which were inevitably copied to us but also through the lone agent we still had within the mountain and the assessment was that he presented a clear and present danger to the security not just of the United Kingdom, but of the Earth itself.

A military build-up was a necessity.

Were we ready? Not really, _Thundersdawn _station herself had no ship to ship armaments in her design nor shields as the SGC controlled those technologies and refused to share them. Her only protection was large sheets of armour plating which would actually be one of the last things installed on each section and an array of the Type II Pulse Lasers, well, actually Type IV by the time she was launched.

We also had no operational warcraft and that included fighters. We planned on _Thundersdawn _being the initial construction point for our first generation of warships of course, but having no fighters certainly wasn't part of the original plan.

Still, we had to go, grab some sort of lead whilst the opportunity still existed. The SGC already had two operational _Prometheus _class warships, _Prometheus _herself and the _Iwo Jima _with construction started on a third, _Independence _and funding secured for what would become _Persephone. _Hammond was already attempting to secure funding for the SGC to have its own orbital facility and was gaining much ground in that area, if they launched first with the technological edge they maintained…

No, we had to go; we had to seize the day.

The date was set, 22 nd of February 2004.

Strange as it may seem, considering how often we have suffered delays and disappointments since, the 22 nd was the day _Airhead _1-4-9 launched, carrying the first components of what would become _Thundersdawn _station into orbit with it, followed swiftly by airheads very cautiously and slowly lifting the _Shunter _space tugs into orbit, a task that it was later discovered 'bent' the airheads, causing structural damage, the weight being too much for those early models.

The night before I would be lying if I said I slept, it wasn't that I couldn't because that would imply that I had been given the opportunity to try, which I hadn't. Even up to the last minute, beyond that to be honest, we were still creating the administrative plans for the construction, rewriting to account for the loss or injury to several vital craft and components, rescheduling launches to account for civilian traffic making late flight plans through the area, deciding how best to protect the launches given how few aircraft the RAF had managed to spare with cleared personnel for that purpose, inspecting the bases hastily augmented defences which at that point at least, turned out not to be necessary…

We barely had time to breathe, let alone sleep.

But, that was the start of our grand adventure. The rest, as they say, is another story.


End file.
